West India Dock has a visit from the French Navy with the arrival of FS Antarès (M770), FS Altaïr (M771), and FS Aldébaran (M772). The ships are clased as Antarès-class mine countermeasures vessels. They have also been used as a sonar towing ship: protecting the coast from nuclear subs by using a towed sonar. Over the years, many NATO ships have visited West India Dock and are always of interest ..read more

St. Katharine Docks Classic Boat Festival © Lucy Young 2017 St Katharine Docks will hold a festival which is a celebration of the Dunkirk ‘Little Ships’ which took part in the evacuation of Allied soldiers during WWII from the beaches of Dunkirk between the 26th of May and 4th of June 1940. Alongside 20 warships, 850 civilian boats assisted with the evacuation. A number of these boats live on, privately owned and well preserved. The Dunkirk At The Docks Festival welcomes a fleet of them to St Katharine Docks over the May Bank Holiday weekend. Kicking off the festivities will be the annual St ..read more

The arrival of Scintilla Maris in West India Dock offers a bit of a mystery, it looks like a trawler but with plenty of modern equipment. The story around Scintilla Maris is quite a fascinating one, built at the Dutch shipyard Maaskant in 1988 as a fishing vessel named Vertrouwen, the boat spent the first twenty years of its life in the North Sea trawling for flatfish. After decommissioning in 2006, Vertrouwen spent over 10 years gathering dust at Damen Maaskant before the project to turn the boat into an expedition yacht began. During an extensive four year rebuild at Damen Maaskant, the ..read more

In 2017, We proudly announced that SS Robin was returning home but things did not quite work out that way because of various issues. However, we can bring the news that the move from the Royal Docks to Trinity Buoy Wharf will eventually bring SS Robin home to the Orchard Yard on the River Lea where she was built by Mackenzie, MacAlpine & Co in 1890. SS Robin is the world’s only surviving complete Victorian steamship, she was laid down at Orchard House Yard at Bow Creek, Blackwall, London, in December 1889, ‘Robin’ and her sister ship ‘Rook’, were launched into the River Lea in 1890. Bow ..read more

Friday saw the arrival of a couple of ships from the Royal Netherlands Navy into West India Dock, another ship the HNLMS Karel Doorman is moored in Greenwich. The HNLMS Groningen is a Holland-class offshore patrol vessel operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy. The vessel was built in the Romanian shipyards in Galati, by the Dutch firm Damen Group. The ship was laid down in 2010, launched in 2011 and commissioned in 2013. It has a length of 108.4 m (355 ft 8 in) and beam of 16 m (52 ft 6 in). It has a crew of 54 and carries helicopter on board. The ship has been used counter-drug operations ..read more

There is an unusual assortment of yachts in West India Dock at the moment, the latest arrival is the 46.2m/150’11” long Pioneer motor yacht. The yacht built by Palmer Johnson in the United States and was launched in 1996. Pioneer was previously named Dione Sky, Putty VI, Turmoil, and features exterior design by Vripack, while her interior was designed by Axel Vervoordt, with naval architecture by Vripack. Up to 10 guests are accommodated on board the superyacht, and she also has accommodation for 8 crew members including the captain of Pioneer. Pioneer is known as a explorer yacht because i ..read more

At the beginning of the holiday weekend, we have the arrival of the Stardust superyacht which has a length of 62.5m. The yacht was built by Amels in Netherlands who delivered the superyacht to its ownder in 2020. The Stardust exterior design is by Tim Heywood Design Ltd., while her interior was designed by Studio Laura Sessa and Amels, with naval architecture by Amels. She can accommodate up to 12 guests in 6 staterooms and has accommodation for 14 crew members. Other than this information, little is known about the owner or plans for yacht. The yacht does have a very unusual design and i ..read more

Another newcomer to the dock is Slipstream superyacht, the 60 m (198 ft) yacht was launched by French shipyard CMN Yachts in 2009. The interior of the yacht was designed by British design firm Winch Design, There is accommodations for 12 guests in 7 cabins with one master, 1 VIP, two doubles, and two twin rooms. There are accommodations for 15 crew onboard. The yacht’s exterior also features a design from Winch Design with a striking black hull and a silver superstructure. She was built by CMN Yachts, a French shipyard based in Cherbourg Cedex, who delivered the award-winning yacht in 2009 ..read more

After a quiet few years, we are certainly seeing more ships and boats coming into West India Dock, the latest arrival is the INS Tarangini which is a sail training ship for the Indian Navy. INS Tarangini is a three-masted barque, commissioned in 1997 as a training ship for the Indian Navy. She was constructed in Goa to a design by the British naval architect Colin Mudie, and launched in 1995. In 2003–04, she became the first Indian naval ship to circumnavigate the globe. The ship sails across the Indian Ocean region for the purpose of providing sail training experience to the officer cadet ..read more

Well, shiver my timbers, is that a pirate ship in West India Dock ? No, but it is the Götheborg of Sweden which is a sailing replica of the Swedish East Indiaman Götheborg I, which was launched in 1738 and sank in 1745. When the wreckage of the original Götheborg was found in 1984, the idea to make a replica of the vessel was considered. The keel for the replica was laid in 1995 at the Eriksbergs wharf by the Göta älv in Gothenburg. The construction and historical design of the ship was made by Joakim Severinsson. The vessel was built using old, traditional techniques, and it was made as cl ..read more